Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft [UFA] production; distributed by UFA-Filmverleih GmbH. / Produced by Erich Pommer. Scenario by Thea von Harbou + [Fritz Lang], from the novel Metropolis by Thea von Harbou. Production assistants, Rudi George, Erich Holder, Gustav Pütter and Hans Taussig. Production design by Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut and Karl Vollbrecht + [Edgar G. Ulmer]. Costume design by Änne Willkomm + [Hermann I. Kaufmann]. Sculpture by Walter Schultze-Mittendorf (Walter Schulze-Mittendorf). Models construction by Willy Muller. Technical constultant, Erich Kettelhut. Apprentice director, Slatan Dudow. Cinematography by Karl Freund and Günther Rittau + [Walter Ruttmann]. Camera assistants, Robert Baberske and Günther Anders. Stills photography by Horst von Harbou. Special effects by Ernst Kunstmann. Special effects cinematography by Eugen Schüfftan + [Helmar Lerski (Schüfftan process), Konstantin Irmen-Tschet (models), and Erich Kettelhut]. Special effects cinematography assistant, Hugo O. Schulze. Edited by Fritz Lang. Original music score by Gottfried Huppertz. / Premiered 10 January 1927 at Ufa-Palast am Zoo (UFA Palace Cinema) in Berlin, Germany. General release (at 3241 metres), 5 August 1927. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. / The project was in production from 22 March through 30 October 1926, with principal cinematography taken 22 May through 30 October 1926. The film was reedited to ten reels by Channing Pollack, Julian Johnson and Edward Adams, in the USA by Paramount Pictures Corporation, with USA premiere 6 March 1927 in New York, New York, and general release on 13 March 1927. The film was released in Finland on 21 March 1927. The film was released in Greece as Mitropolis on 4 April 1927. The film was released in Sweden on 4 April 1927. The film was released in Argentina as Metrópolis on 25 November 1927. The film was released in Spain as Metrópolis on 23 January 1928. The film was released in Australia on 7 April 1928. The film was released in Japan on 3 April 1929. In 1961, incomplete prints held by the Gosfilmofond film archive and the Czechoslovakian Film Archive were the basis for a restoration of the American version of the film. A German restoration of the film was undertaken in 1971. At that time, the materials held by Gosfilmofond was returned to Germany. It was soon discovered that the German and American negatives of the film were composed of entirely different takes. The German restoration was completed in 1972. The lone surviving copy of the German censorship record containing texts of the original intertitle cards was found at the Swedish Film Archive in 1980. A pop music version, compiled by composer Giorgio Moroder, was released theatrically in 1984. A ‘restored’ version based on the original scenario and the novel by Thea von Harbou, with film stills (from La Cinémathèque Française) and additional intertitles to replace missing footage, was prepared from four different versions of the film (the abridged German version submitted to the Museum of Modern Art by UFA in 1936; the version held by Gosfilmofond; a print held in London, England; and one held in Melbourne, Australia) was completed by Enno Patalas for the Munich Filmmuseum in 1987. A subtantially complete duplicate 16mm reduction negative (probably struck circa 1973-1974), previously held in the collection of Argentinian film critic Manuel Peña Rodríguez, was rediscovered in 2008 by the Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducros Hicken in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A 9.5mm reduction positive possibly containing footage not present in standard circulation prints was recovered in Chile in 2008. / Silent film.